Waynesburg University launches Center for Corporate Social Responsibility

Chevron and Waynesburg University announced today the launch of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility at Waynesburg University, a first-of-its-kind center in the region. The center was made possible through a $250,000 commitment from Chevron.

During a press event hosted by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, representatives from Chevron and Waynesburg University shared their excitement about the partnership and provided an overview of the center’s programming.

Our partnership with Waynesburg University underscores our belief that the best way to support the region, now and for decades to come, is to work with community partners to achieve shared goals.”

-Trip Oliver, manager of policy, government and public affairs for Chevron Appalachia

“We strive to build strong relationships and make investments that support progress and prosperity in the communities where we live and operate,” said Trip Oliver, manager of policy, government and public affairs for Chevron Appalachia. “The Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, a commitment of Chevron and Waynesburg University, represents another step toward achieving that goal.”

The center will seek to build a network of professionals in the region, encompassing all of southwestern Pennsylvania, and will be dedicated to sharing best practices in corporate social responsibility (CSR) work. As a membership organization, valuable resources will be shared with members to build strong and more valuable CSR programs.

Focus areas for the center will include best practices, volunteerism programs, sharing impacts of successful programs, networking with peers, educational seminars, and data compilation and analysis.

The center will also host thought leadership lectures, speaker series and roundtable discussions with inspiring partner university faculty and influential professionals in the field.

“We are very excited to announce this first-of-its-kind partnership in our region with Chevron and are appreciative of their generous support,” said Douglas G. Lee, president of Waynesburg University. “The relationship that the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility will foster between our local businesses and community will be mutually beneficial for all.”

In addition to the unveiling of the center, the following corporations were announced as initial members of the Chevron Center for Corporate Social Responsibility: 84 Lumber, Community Bank, CONSOL Energy, EQT Corporation, First Federal of Greene County, Range Resources and Steptoe & Johnson PLLC.

Members may be corporations, corporate foundations, professional associations and businesses of all sizes. Membership includes benefits, such as marketing recognition, complimentary registration for speaker series and roundtable discussions, peer-member benchmarking surveys and university-driven sharing and collection of relevant news, best practices and data, in addition to volunteer event participation.

Prior to the press announcement, a preliminary roundtable discussion was held that included several corporations in the area that have worked closely with Chevron and the University over the past several months.

During the roundtable, Chevron offered an in-depth overview of the company’s CSR-related work and hosted Linda Topoleski from the Allegheny Conference who shared a current mapping project on work being done with K-12 education.

The next roundtable discussion is planned for February 2019.

The Center for Corporate Social Responsibility will be housed within Waynesburg University’s Southpointe Center in Canonsburg. The work of the center will be led by Stacey Brodak, vice president for Institutional Advancement and University Relations at Waynesburg University, and Matthew Stultz, corporate relations and communication specialist at Waynesburg University.

For more information, contact Stultz at 724-743-4422 or csr@waynesburg.edu.